Democrats know that they can’t win on substance or policy. Their well-worn tactic is to sow discontent. They do so against all Republican candidates but recently they have stepped up efforts to cast originalist members of SCOTUS as unethical and unworthy of respect. They are also demanding term limits.   

Public perception and trust in the court have dropped – almost entirely because of leftist drumbeats of conflicts of interest and because the wives of some of the justices are politically active. 

Leftists have targeted Justice Alito because his wife grew tired of a neighbor’s cuss-laden signs directed at Trump, herself, and her husband. Democrats demanded that Alito recuse himself from all matters concerning January 6th. The same is true with Clarence Thomas via his wife Ginni. 

Back in the winter of 2024, leftist gasbag Dick Durbin demanded that Thomas recuse himself from the Trump 14th Amendment case.  

I’m calling for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself in the 14th Amendment case determining if Donald Trump is ineligible for the 2024 ballot.

Given questions surrounding his wife’s involvement, Justice Thomas should recuse himself so there’s no question of bias.

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) February 7, 2024

My colleague Jeff Charles noted that Durbin is a shameless hack.

But we know what this is all about, don’t we, dear reader? They don’t want Thomas to recuse himself because of his wife. They want him to recuse himself because they know he is more likely to vote against removing Trump from the ballot. Folks on the left see that this strategy might go up in smoke, and they are desperate to do something about it. At the end of the day, the 14th Amendment stratagem isn’t about protecting the Constitution, it is about influencing the upcoming election--nothing more, 

The irony is that by March 2024, SCOTUS unanimously rejected Colorado’s feckless argument. That unanimous decision included Justices who Durbin never attacked for their own politicking and shilling for leftist causes. He's a fan when leftist jurists politick for his side.   

Now, we are in the election’s final days and Durbin, once again, is casting his feckless nonsense to sow discontent. He’s calling on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving “First Liberty." ABC reported that Ginni Thomas wrote to the head of First Liberty:  

“First Liberty’s opposition to court-reform proposals gave a boost to certain judges. According to Shackelford, Thomas wrote in all caps: “YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.” 

Durbin claims Ginni Thomas' comments are a "conflict of interest" for Clarence Thomas and he should recuse from any case First Liberty has any hand in. But First Liberty isn’t a named plaintiff or defendant in any case before the Supreme Court, or any case now pending review. There are three cases in which First Liberty is supporting plaintiffs that “potentially” could end up at SCOTUS if granted review. Durbin is blathering about recusal again, because it’s September in an election ear, and his party’s presidential candidate is in deep water and needs a life preserver.

Best to smear and run than to never smear at all.  

Harris has jumped on the recusal wagon and wants to pass a law mandating Supreme Court term limits. No statute, without a Constitutional Amendment, would be valid. Harris and the rest of the smear merchants know that. Nevertheless, they want to put that in the public forum, so their low-information voters think that Republicans are against “ethics” and term limits.  

Best to smear and run than to never smear at all.